What is the purpose of a try statement in programming?

The purpose of a try statement in programming is to catch exceptions thrown by the program. When you place code that might throw an exception inside a try block, it allows you to handle errors gracefully. If an exception occurs, control transfers to a corresponding catch block, where you can define how to respond to that specific type of error. This structure is essential for robust programming because it helps maintain the program's flow instead of crashing unexpectedly.

The other options are associated with different programming concepts. Defining a variable within a class relates to object-oriented programming principles. Providing warnings before executing risky code is not the primary function of a try statement; rather, it is the handling of exceptions post-factum. Instantiating a new object also belongs to object creation and management in programming, which is unrelated to exception handling as performed by a try statement. Thus, catching exceptions is the fundamental purpose of using a try statement.